Clark, Green help D-Backs oust Padres in extra innings

PHOENIX -- After shaving off his Afro, Arizona
first baseman Tony Clark looked like a new
man Monday.

He swung like a new man, too.

Clark snapped an 0-for-26 slump with a game-tying home run in the eighth
inning, setting the stage for Shawn Green's
winning single as the Diamondbacks defeated San Diego
6-5 in 10 innings.

Asked if his new look made him hit better, Clark chuckled and said, "If
it was, I'd have cut it a long time ago."

Clark, who came into the game hitting .140, tied the score 5-5 with a
solo homer off reliever Scott Linebrink
in the eighth inning.

Arizona handed the NL West leaders their second defeat in 16 games and
snapped the Padres' franchise-record eight-game road win streak.

"They're playing better than anybody else in baseball, and to get that
first game of the series, especially with their ace (Jake
Peavy) going (Tuesday), that was big for us," Green said.

The Padres were stunned by the loss, which reduced their lead over
Arizona to a half-game in the NL West. The Diamondbacks are 4-0 against
the Padres after sweeping a three-game series in Petco Park last month.

San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said his team "did a great job of coming
back. Fought back and had the lead, and those are tough to lose. We have
to put this behind us. They battled tonight and we made a couple of
mistakes and it haunted us."

Linebrink's mistake was an inside fastball to a hitter who earned a
reputation for late-inning heroics last year. Clark was chosen the
Diamondbacks' 2005 Player of the Year after hitting .304 with 30 homers
and 87 runs batted in in only 130 games.

This year has been very different for the 33-year-old Clark, who had one
homer in his first 53 at-bats.

"Tony's going to do a lot of great things for us," Green said.
"Obviously last year, he had an incredible year. I think sometimes after
you have a year like that, it's tough to start all over. You put a
little extra pressure on yourself to try to replicate the previous
season. He's going to have a great year. He got off to a slow start, but
nights like tonight are going to get him going."

Clark decided his Afro had to go after he stepped off the Diamondbacks'
charter flight from St. Louis Sunday night.

"As soon as I got off that plane and felt that 100 degrees -- I had six
or seven inches of insulation," he said.

Clark's homer cost San Diego starter Chan Ho Park
his third victory. Park allowed one earned run on five hits in seven
innings, walking two and striking out eight.

The shot also set the stage for Arizona's first extra-inning victory of
the season.

Arizona starter Brandon Webb, who came
in 6-0, was hit hard after being spotted a 4-0 lead in the third inning.

Arizona has scored at least four runs in all but one of Webb's nine
starts.

Webb gave up most of the lead in the fourth. After Brian
Giles led off with a double, Josh Bard
hit his first home run of the season into the right-field bleachers to
cut the deficit to 4-2.

Three batters later, Adrian Gonzalez
homered into the Diamondbacks' bullpen in the left-field corner. After
allowing three homers in his first 61 2-3 innings, Webb surrendered two
in a span of four batters.

Webb's struggles continued in the sixth. After Bard led off with a
single and Khalil Greene doubled, Webb
threw a called third strike past Vinny Castilla.
An intentional walk to Gonzalez loaded the bases for Barfield, who
struck out on a low breaking pitch.

That brought up Park, an .083 hitter who had singled in his first two
trips. He bounced another single up the middle, driving in two runs to
give the Padres a 5-4 lead.